On the fresco there is the sixth scene from the Protoevangelium (VI), which illustrates the plot of the betrothal of Mary and the righteous old man Joseph, who was chosen as a priest from among the widowers of Israel by the miraculous sign on his crook. At the background of the kibori (the conditional image of the Jerusalem temple), the priest Zechariah is presented, presenting his flourishing crook and the young lady to Joseph.

General Information:
Protoevangelium of James is early Christian apocrypha about the life of the Virgin Mary and the Nativity of Jesus Christ. Apocrypha became the basis for a comprehensive narrative cycle, traditionally included in the decoration system of the Virgin’s temples. In ancient Russian monumental painting of the 16th-17th centuries the Protoevangelium cycle is often adjacent to the cycle of the Akathist to the Virgin Mary.

Full name: Awarding of Virgin Mary to Joseph (Betrothal)
Creation Time: 1641
Technique: Fresco, Tempera
Location: Western slope of the southern spring arch